Since 1987, Young has been professor emeritus of urology and semiretired, but that hasn't kept him away from the urology offices in the basement of the hospital's North building.

"He has been coming in three or four times a week, but he comes to see all his old patients," Dr. Stephen Jacobs, UM's new chief of urology, said yesterday. "They love him. He has treated most of the rich and famous of this state over the years, so people come to see him frequently, just to visit."

Young, who is 74, still lives in the Westminster home where he was born. But in recent years, he has commuted to the downtown hospital during the week from his Cross Keys apartment. None of his colleagues expect his routine to change much.

In Young's era, surgical approaches to urological problems were the mainstays. Today, however, of these treatments increasingly are facing non-surgical rivals.

For example, drugs, balloons and microwave cookers are vigorously being explored as alternative therapies for benign prostate hypertrophy, or enlargement, a very common and troublesome problem for men by the time they are 60. It impedes urinary flow.

"It's going to take a few years to shake out which is the best treatment. In our expanded services we will be offering these alternativesfor benign enlarged prostate and for inflammation of the prostate," Jacobs said.

Four years ago, the University of Maryland Medical Alumni Association presented Young with its honor award and gold key. At that ceremony, Young was described as a "kind and gentle physician, who was available to his patients at any time of the day or night and who trained his students to do likewise."

He earned his medical degree at the University of Maryland in 1941 and returned in 1956 to direct the division of urology. He started UM's first urological residency program and is believed to have trained most of Maryland's urologists.

Later, he developed several innovative urological surgical techniques. His productive clinical research studies resulted in the publication of about 90 scientific papers.

His work attracted national attention, and he was elected to memberships in several prestigious urological societies. He was made chairman of the Residency Review Committee of the American Board of Urology, which is responsible for establishing stringent standards for all urological training programs in this country.

In 1987, he was named the president of the American Board of Urology. He also has served as president of the Society of University Urologists, president of the Clinical Society of Genito-Urinary Surgeons and president of the American Association of Genito-Urinary Surgeons.

Young also has been what Jacobs characterizes as "an absolute fixture in this state." He has at different times been president of the UM Medical Board, associate director of University Hospital, associate dean of the UM Medical School and acting chairman of the department of surgery.